Awakening
by DreamingOfDissent
Summary: Tending becomes caring over the years. Soon enough, the child isn't a child any longer.


Walter frowned as he set down Integra's tray. She had fallen asleep at her desk again, head on her arms and hair spilling over the piles of paperwork. This was the third time in five days. It couldn't be healthy for a fourteen year old girl. He sighed and knelt by her side, gently touching her arm.

"Wake up, little miss, you've fallen asleep in your papers again." He said gently. She snarled softly under her breath and sagged more on the table. Even through the foggy haze of sleep, Walter recognized her tone. He smiled and stood, pulling the chair further from the desk.

"Asleep on the job again?" Alucard asked as he walked through a wall. Doors were noisy and would awaken his young master. Walter nodded. "Shall I take her to her bed then?" Alucard walked closer to the sleeping girl and the butler. Walter started to tell him it wasn't necessary when Alucard spoke once more.

"You aren't as young as you used to be." He said, red coat swirling around the floor as he bent to scoop up the dozing girl. She never so much as twitched in her sleep at the contact and motion. Walter just gave a particularly withering look to Alucard.

"I am still young enough to show you your place, Vampire." He said. Alucard laughed softly, barely jostling his precious cargo.

"Perhaps we will have to make sure that you are still in shape after all of these years of complacency." Alucard said as he brushed past the butler on his way to the door. Walter had a brief childish thought about tripping him, even though it wouldn't work, it would still bring a slight smile to his face. He thought better of it as his eyes landed on the sleeping face of the leader of Hellsing.

"In time, she will be quite the master." Alucard said, looking down on the tired girl in his arms. Walter just nodded.

"I have faith in her. Once she begins to fully grasp the gravity of her job, she will shine like no other." Walter gently brushed a lock of her blonde hair from her face. She smiled a little in her sleep.

Four years later, Integra lay sleeping at her desk once more. Walter found her and sighed. She bolted awake, hand going for her gun immediately, then falling back to the desk once she realized the innocence of the sound.

"Walter." She said, closing her eyes and sitting up in her chair, "You startled me." She murmured, eyes blurring as she looked at the papers before her. Walter just walked to her side and gently placed her pen in a drawer.

"You will have these done far before the deadline, even if you decide to call it a night and go to bed now." He said. In his own way, he was telling her that she should sleep. However, his status as mere butler prevented him from being blunter.

She shook her head and reached into the drawer for her pen once more.

"These are due in the morning, I-" The desk slammed shut, missing her fingers by millimeters.

"I think it would be best for my master if she would retire." Alucard said, materializing behind her, hand still on the drawer.

"I think it would be best for my servant if he stood down and didn't try to order me around." She said, looking up at him.

"My, my, Walter. She gets rather hostile when she hasn't had her tea. Perhaps you should make some for her?" Alucard looked at Walter, his eyes saying that she needed something decaffeinated and preferably slightly drugged.

"Of course." Walter walked out before Integra could stop him. She just jerked the drawer open and fetched her pen, ignoring Alucard. Even when Walter brought her the tea, she simply thanked him and returned to her paperwork, refusing to even so much as glance at her red clad servant. Alucard smiled at Walter as Integra finished her cup of tea and yawned, apparently not noticing the absurdity of the action following her 'caffeine intake'. Walter and Alucard exchanged a knowing look behind her back as her pen slowed and stopped, her head leaning further and further toward the desktop. As soon as she was completely unconscious, her servant in scarlet stepped forward and scooped her up. Walter tended to the mess of papers and cigar ashes on her desk.

It was almost a routine with them, taking care of the child that was no longer a child but always would be to their eyes. However, that particular night, something was different. As Alucard took her shoes from her and tucked her in bed, leaving her glasses on the nightstand, she seemed different in the soft moonlight. The childish roundness to her cheeks was gone, leaving smooth angles and lines that formed a rather elegant face. Her lips were barely parted and her face was relaxed in sleep. Her pale hair spread around her head like a cloud on the pillow, framing her face beautifully. Alucard looked on in amazement as his master became a woman to him, rather than the girl that had saved him.

He stood stock still in shock as the changes manifested in his mind. She dressed in men's clothing, but when she lay prostrate in sleep, her curves were easily visible. The way the heavy material lay across her skin and pooled around her limbs outlined her figure nicely. She was hardly the pretty doll with the man's gun anymore.

Alucard let this new revelation sink in slowly before fading away and leaving her to her dreams.

This certainly changed things.


End file.
